Flurry of MP visits to North Canterbury
From local democracy reporter David Hill:
Policing, local government, education and immigration have been the focus of visits from the nation’s leaders to Rangiora, Kaikōura and Kaiapoi over the last two weeks.
The most notable visit was by new Police Minister Chris Hipkins, who visited police in Rangiora and Kaikōura as part of his nationwide tour.
‘‘We’ve talked about everything from gang crime to stock rustling to mental health,’’ Hipkins said.
‘‘Our police do a tough job, and we’re fortunate to have such a grounded and committed group working to keep us all safe.’’
New Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty made Waimakariri his first stop last week, in a series of visits around the country.
Mayor Dan Gordon said topics discussed included last year’s floods, advocacy for lifestylers, transport projects such as the Woodend Bypass, Skew Bridge and Southbrook, racing and Three Waters reform.
‘‘We found him to be very interested in the work we are doing here in the Waimakariri district and he listened as we outlined our concerns, particularly around Three Waters and transport.’’
Gordon hoped to host McAnulty again on a visit to learn more about the council’s Civil Defence Cadet programme - a first in New Zealand.
Kaiapoi North School has been the focus of two MP visits, as its structured literacy programme captures national attention.
Opposition Education and Immigration Spokesperson Erica Stanford was in Kaiapoi on July 1, and met with Kaiapoi North School principal Jason Miles.
Her visit was followed by Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti, who came to observe the structured literacy programme first-hand last week.
Stanford said the Government had been ‘‘very late to the party’’ and she wanted structured literacy rolled out to schools throughout the country.
‘‘It goes right back to early childhood education and even learning at home, so we are looking at what we can do to change these outcomes.’’
She was also concerned with school attendance rates, which dropped back to 60% last year in the wake of Covid-19.
The Government recently announced a new strategy, aiming to improve attendance to 75% of children attending school regularly by 2026.
But Stanford said the Government needed to do better.
‘‘We can see schools in similar deciles and ethnic make-ups getting very different results, so how we learn from those that are succeeding?’’
Stanford also met with local businesses, discussing their challenges with recruiting staff and attracting migrants.
While airfares were expensive and even getting flights could be a challenge, Stanford said there were ways of simplifying the process of assisting businesses to attract migrant workers.
One option was issuing short-term residency Visas for new migrants on arrival in particular areas of skills shortages such as nurses or farm workers.
Waimakariri district plan faces more delays amid changing rules
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Changing Government legislation is causing headaches for council staff, as Waimakariri’s new District Plan is set to be delayed again.
Waimakariri District Council development planning manager Matt Bacon said he was relieved when the last of the public hearings ended last week.
But with final council reports due on December 13, staff will have just two working days to present the final District Plan on December 17. A district plan helps to control and manage the development of the district or city.
‘‘We are working through what it looks like and we will update the council at its meeting on December 3,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘But we will likely seek another extension from the environment minister and the Resource Management Act (RMA) minister.’’
The council first notified its draft District Plan in September 2021, but within months legislation was introduced with new medium density residential housing standards (MDRS).
‘‘We needed to call for further submissions and we had to create a separate hearing panel to consider the plan variations to allow for the MDRS,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘We have tried to merge the process as much as possible, as well as looking at re-zoning and incorporating other new legislation.’’
When the draft plan was first notified there was no National Policy Statement (NPS) for Indigenous Biodiversity, but an NPS was introduced - and then replaced.
The Natural and Built Environment Act came into being last year and then repealed, and then there is the NPS on Urban Development and the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
The Government is now working on more RMA reforms and Environment Canterbury is working on the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement.
And then there is the Fast-Track Approvals Bill, which includes three proposed housing developments in Waimakariri - two of them outside of the future urban development areas identified in the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
All three housing developments in the Bill have been included in submissions to the District Plan, including a proposed 850-home development at Ohoka, near Rangiora, which is also subject to an Environment Court appeal.
‘‘We haven’t seen the detail, so whether it is the same proposals, we don’t know, but they are different processes so we have to just keep doing what we are doing, until we are told otherwise,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘It might just be a timing thing, but we just don’t know.’’
Bacon said delaying the District Plan until new legislation is in place is not an option.
‘‘We are looking at what we can control and having a watching brief, and we will look at transitional timings because we don’t always have to immediately change planning documents when new legislation comes in.’’
Planning manager Wendy Harris said navigating changing Government legislation is a normal part of council planning work.
‘‘If we waited we wouldn’t do anything and we would go nowhere.’’
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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The tiger who came to tea
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